Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Indian Rupee has a Symbol - Big deal?

This is bound to be a small post. However, the start (for me) was a really interesting one. I have been thinking of writing on this new symbol that our currency just got. And almost two weeks later when I could sit down and log in to blogger - Voila - a new reader on the blog had this comment.
It's great..really great job..!!

Looking forward to read more from you esp. on "our Indian Rupee sign" ...!!

So I guess it must be a good omen. Here we go

Rupee has a new symbol. Period.
I have been told by everybody that I should be proud of this because
1. We are only the fifth country to have a symbol after USA, Europe, Japan and Britain.
I wonder do we count anywhere close to these countries as an economy. May be we are expected to, in about a couple of decades - but proud we must be of having a symbol. phew!!

2. We might suddenly be recognised globally because soon keyboards will carry this new symbol.
I wonder whether people in general and media in particular realise that the symbol has to go through a unicode committe before it is accepted and recognised globally. Only after that will our Govt. be able to mandate hardware manufacturers to carry the symbol in their produce.
However, enthusiasts have already found out ways to type it - find here if interested.

3. Because it is touted as a positive step towards India becoming a financial super power.
Alas, I wonder - will we ever get over with our fascination with symbolism, hyperbole and overtly optimistic beliefs. Yes for all I write here - I am a firm believer in India's future. But for god's sake - someone tell me how a symbol for our currency is a step towards economic supremacy. Its a pathetic argument.

The truth is - achieving Global recoginition would require the Rupee to be a strong currency - something in whose inherent strength the citizens of this world have firm belief. Try purchasing something in exchange of the Indian Rupee in a country outside India and you would know that we are not even a few miles in reach of such a position. Our currency is not even fully convertible - so imagining that it could soon become a reserve currency for the world is plain wishful thinking. Even with all its woes the American Dollar, The Euro, The Pound and the Yen are far stronger and are expected to remain so for a decade or more, that is assuming the Indian Govt. continues to reform and is able to aggressively correct its economic mess.

The timing of the announcement, even if inadvertantly, was sublime. The country was reeling under the pressure of inflation exacerbated by deregulation of petrol prices and the Govt. seemed to be on the defensive with a very comprehensive "bandh" called by the opposition parties. Suddenly with the launch of the new symbol the country seem to be have galvanised. The media suddenly forgot all discussion about inflation. Govt. received a welcome breather. The foolish common man of India (courtsey the film "Wednesday") was fooled again into believing that his and his country's time is about to change. No sir, nothing like that is happening. A few weeks from now - it will be business as usual and the Rupee symbol will have to be incorporated in the CBSE text books for next year and forgotten. Period.

Ps.
BTW I think the symbol is rather cool. Simple, Indian as well as western, manages to remain a currency symbol as well. Kudos to Shri D Udaya Kumar, our homegrown IITians to come up with this simple and brilliant symbol. I sincerely hope that his design finally becomes a household symbol across the earth.

11 comments:

  1. While I agree to what you've presented here in the bullets..[bullets literally] I feel your tone is sarcastic...

    I would want to know from Mr. Udaya why he has used Roman language in the making of the symbol when it's going to represent the Indian Currency.

    No,I'm not unhappy with the symbol. I like it..but the curious mind does the rounds you know :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey !! Nupur I am sarcastic on the manner in which this is touted as the next big thing for India. It isn't.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello Sir,

    I'm Glad that you noticed my comment and pasted it here; it really makes me feel the same when Mr. Amitabh Bachchan had responded to one of my tweets.

    Now coming back to the post, it's exactly what came to my mind when I saw our currency's new sign for the first time and I was quite surprised when one of our teachers at our college told us that "Socho to bahut kucch ho sakta hai India ke liye" but who knows. You were quite right that it has really diverted common man's mind and he has forgotten about the petrol price rise, inflation and "The Big Bharat Bandh" so in a way the new rupee sign has done what the Govt. expected from it, and the keyboard makers will also be benefited because all the Govt. offices will be calling them for tenders for new keyboards with our own new rupee symbol on them and with this they will be getting hefty commissions. But lets hope it turns out be good for our country.

    Thanks for your views.....!!

    Regards ...!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Why having a symbol for currency a great deal? What makes people rejoice or cynical about it?
    using the symbol instead of spelling rupees should not make any difference.
    Pardon me sir,but i am not sure with the idea I percieved and the one manifested above,is it that the symbol makes no difference?...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello !! jd

    Thanks for your comment.

    The idea suggested is that this is no big deal at this moment - at least nothing close to the deal it is being made out to be in the media. For Rupee (read India) there are bigger and more pressing priorities.

    If I might add, ours is the only currency which got a symbol when it did not matter to anyone else than just us.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "Its a pathetic argument."...Well said Sir.
    I agree with you hands down!
    I am going to be curt when I say this. - "Indians have a tendency (most of them) to make things bigger than they are. The media. The press. The so - called "influential people".The banks. The UNAWARE PUBLIC. Last but not the least. THE. PEOPLE. WHO. DON'T. THINK. All of these people Think its a big thing to have a symbol. Its absurd to be so excited about it. my reaction to this was - "good" but why should I be proud of it?
    Fine. Agreed to the fact that our country is the 5th to have a symbol, but why celebrate it and make it a big issue? In what other areas is our country in top 5 (except population). I am not against the slightest of the PROGRESS our country makes - mind it - but I'm certainly against the stupid and senseless issues in-air. To the symbol thing - as said by Akash Sir - "BIG DEAL?"

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hello !! Mallika

    Thanks for your comment.

    I guess its all about getting our priorities right - whether as a nation or as individuals.

    Regards
    Akash

    ReplyDelete
  8. You have made some good point Akash. Even though, it feels good to have a distinct symbol, but we should also not forget other important issues that India is facing. And thanks for including link to my article.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hello !! Anuj

    Thanks for your comment.

    akash

    ReplyDelete
  10. Informative - I did not know a few things about this symbol which I do now. Clearly, like you said, India has major issues and this does not mean anything. But the symbol in itself is cool and distinct.
    ~Rachna

    ReplyDelete